Art of meat packing



H. FREDBERG AL ART OF MEAT PACKING Filed Jah. '12, 1934 2 sheets-sheet 1An 0 Freder:

d Qycgz Fr'ed June 23, 1936. y H. FBEDBERG er AL l A' A ART 0F MEATPACKING Y Filed Jan. 12.1934

Z6 l In ven/fons:

y BY CQPZ Fry Haggo' F/ede Patented June 23, 1936 A UNITED STATES ATENTOFFICE ART OF MEAT PACKING Hugo Fredberg and Carl Fredberg, Chicago,Ill. Application January 12, 1934, Serial No. 706,395

4 Claims. (Cl. 99-157) The invention pertains to the art of meat pack-Figure 1 is a side elevationalview of the rear ing, and concerns moreespecially the preparation portion of a longitudinal half of a hogcarcass. of smoked hams from hog carcasses; and the Fig. 2 is a sideelevational View of a portion cut general aim of the invention is tominimize Waste from the half carcass and including both'the in thepreparation of hams thereby rendering it ham and the butt section.possible to reduce the cost thereof to the ultimate Fig. 3 is aperspective view of the ham after consumer. severance from the buttsection.

For many years, hams have been preparedso Fig. 4 is a fragmentarylongitudinal sectional asl to include a rounded butt end containing aview illustrating a preferred manner of forming large irregular hipbone. While the `meat sura protective covering for the ham. roundingthis hip bone is originally of excellent Fig. 5 is a perspective View ofthe ham resting quality, after it has been subjected tothe usual on itsbroad base upon a table 01 therlike during curing and smokingoperations, it becomes much the curing Opel-"Sltn' inferior, with' theresult that the retail butcher is Y Fis. 6 is a fragmentary perspectiveview of the called upon to cut it off for disposal as a separate hamprepared for the smoking operation and cut commonly known as a ham butt,showing a part of the protective covering broken The primary object ofthe present invention s aWay.

to avoid the waste incident to the former method Figs. 7 and 8 areperspective'views of the deby forming the ham withla, broad flat basedisboned butt section before and after rolling to posed in a transverseplane substantially perform a` boneless ham. ,Y 2U- pendicular' to thethigh Vbone at the upper end Fig. 9 iS e fragmentary peiSDeCtiVe View 0fthe thereof, and by covering such base with a heavy hip bone and aportion of the tail bone. covering having the same protective functionin Fig. 10 iS er DeTSpeCi'fiVe View 0f a Dari 0i the the smoking processas the former rounded butt tenderloin removed from the butt section.

end but Abeing capable of being supplied without In Carrying Out ourinvention, 'the hog carcass appreciable @0st, Y is dividedlongitudinally along an approximate Another difliculty commonlyexperienced in center loin to form two similar halves,'the rearconnection with the former method of preparing DOTiiOnOf One 0f WhiCh'iSShOWn in Fig. 1. This hams is that the presence of" the large angularyhalf of the carcass includes the loin H containing hip bone in therounded butt end thereof interthe Spine i2, and the ham I3 Containingthe thigh 3U feres seriously with the proper curing of the meat. bOne i@COnneCted ai its upper end by e: ball and This is for the reason thatthe bone not only Socket joint l5 With the thigh bone I6. Ildesigobstructs the entry of the pickling solution but its hates the legContaining the shin bonel conirregular surfaces provide pockets for thecollecnected by a J'Oin i9 LWith the 10Wer end of the '73 tion of theliquid preventing the proper draining thigh bene i4. In dividing the WOhalVeS 0f the 34,5:

thereof, with the result that the meat becomes carcass, the ham is cutin a direction longitudisoggy, the bone discolored, and very frequently,nally thereof as indicated at 20.

the entire ham spoiled. It is accordingly anothe1` According to thepractice long in use by meat object of our invention to provide a ham ofsuch packers, the leg Il is severed transversely as incharacter as tofacilitate the curing operation and dicated at 2l at a point slightlybelow the joint 40 permit free drainage of the pickling solution fromI9, so as to form a shank 22. The opposite or large around the bonel andthus insure a uniformly end of the ham is then formed by a rounded cuthigh quality product. just above the hip bone I6 and beneath the tail Afurther object is to utilize to advantage that bone g3 which is joinedtothe hip bone. This cut portion of the ham formerly constituting thepasses through the joint between the hip bone roundedbutt end bycombining it With the' adand the end of the spine as indicated by thejoiningbutt end of the porkV loin, removing therebroken curved line 24,and the fat from the uni from the bony structure, shaping the meat toderside of the ham is trimmed substantially along form arbo'nelessportion, and providing a heavy the line 25. Thus it will be apparentthat accordcoveringtherefor to protect it While being smoked. ing to theformer method, the ham is shaped to i, The objects of the invention thusgenerally form a rounded butt'end containing' the hip bone, statedtogether with other attendant advantages and the pork loin also hasabutt end 28 containing are attained by the mode of operationhereinafter the end vertebr of the spine. set forth in connection withthe accompanying As iirst above set forth, such prior method ofdravvingswherein: forming the ham results in a substantial loss orWaste. This occurs from the fact that when the ham is cured it isnecessary to inject the curing or pickling fluid under pressure into andaround the bony structure at the large end of the ham as well as at thesmall end thereof. Because of the presence of the hip bone I6 in thelarge end of the ham, difliculty is encountered in properly injectingthe pickling solution and frequently an excess of such fluid isintroduced. In any event free drainage of the solution is prevented,with the result that the meat is apt to become soggy imparting a strongbitter taste thereto. Also, the bone has a tendency to becomediscolored, and presents when exposed, an appearance such as to renderthis portion of the meat unsaleable. Furthermore, failure to properlycure the meat surrounding the bone frequently results in the spoilage ofthe entire ham, thus entailing a considerable loss.

But aside from the difculties incurred in properly curing the ham theformer rounded butt end thereof is exposed directly to the heat appliedin the smoking operation, With the result that this portion of the hambecomes dry and more or less charred. Accordingly, the retail butcherfinds it necessary to cut off the butt end for sale as a separate cut,but at a much reduced price; and not infrequently, such butt endsaccumulate so rapidly as to necessitate disposition as waste.

In accordince With our invention, the dilliculties and objections aboveset forth are eliminated to the end that the selling price of the meatto the consumer need not include therein an allowance for a substantialloss or Waste. In attaining this result, the ham is formed to provide abroad flat face or base 21 (Fig. 3) disposed substantially perpendicularto the hip bone I4 at the upper end thereof and formed by a transversecut as indicated by the broken line 28 (Fig. 2) di."- posed immediatelybelow the hip bone I 6 and passing preferably through the extreme upperend of the thigh bone I4. At the opposite or underside of the ham theline of cut passes just under the end of the rear portion 29 of the porktenderloin, the underside being trimmed of fat as indicated at 25. Theham thus formed includes only the thigh bone I4, with the exception ofthe extreme upper end thereof, and the upper end portion of the shinbone I8.

The meat surrounding the hip bone is initially of excellent quality, andin further carrying out our invention, We utilize such meat to advantageby combining it with the rear portion of the loin. Thus the carcass iscut transversely `approximately along the broken line 30 (Fig. l)passing through the rear end of the spine. From the combined buttsection thus formed, the rear end of the tenderloin 29 is removed,together with the hip bone I6 with its adjoining tail portion 23,thereby rendering it possible to conserve the meat of this section togood advantage as hereinafter more fully set forth.

It will be observed that in case of hams prepared in accordance with theprior method, the rounded butt end is depended upon to serve a usefulfunction in the smoking process to protect the central major portionfrom the heat applied in such smoking operation, it having been thepractice to sacrice this butt portion for this purpose, apiparentlybecause of the inclusion therein of a substantial amount of bone. It isof the essence of our invention to avoid such sacrifice of the formerbutt end, but to permit the advantageous use thereof by substitutingtherefor a protective covering for the exposed face 21. ToV this end, we

utilize a portion of the carcass otherwise of very small value, namely,a part of the back fat, to form a thick protective covering 3I composedof a relatively heavy layer of fat 32, having an outer skin covering 33.

Preferably this covering 32 is formed as an integral part of the backside of the ham so as to constitute a flap as indicated in Fig. 3. Theap is, of course, suitably shaped to cover the at face 21, and to enableit to be folded tightly against this face, a groove 34 is cut in the fatadjacent the face as shown clearly in Fig. 4.

The protective covering 3| thus provided not only is inexpensive, but isfurther advantageous as compared to the butt end of the ham because itpermits of the free drainage of the curing solution introduced aroundthe thigh bone I4. Thus, in the curing operation, the ham may be placedin an upright position on a table or other support-rather than in ahorizontal position, as heretofore--so as to rest upon its broad flatface 21, in which position the curing fluid may drain without unduerestriction. Thus it is impossible to inject too much of the solution,and the curing period may accordingly be reduced. Furthermore, the heavylayer 32 of fat constituting the covering 3| assures a sufficient supplyof moisture during the application of the heat to the ham in the smokingprocess, thus avoiding an undue drying of the meat.

In addition to insuring eiectual drainage of the curing solution, itwill also be apparent that the removal of the hip bone and consequentexposure of the upper end portion of the thigh bone,

greatly facilitates the injection of the curing medium around the thighbone. curing of the ham is insured.

After the curing operation the ham is prepared for the smoking processby placing the same in a Woven bag or stocking 35 of a suitable shape toretain the protective covering 3I in position over the at surface 21 ofthe ham. In this operation too, the absence of the bony structure fromthe large end of the ham is advantageous for the reason that thepenetration of the ham by the smoke is greatly facilitated. After theham has been smoked the covering 3| continues to perform a protectivefunction until finally removed by the retail butcher.

If desired, the butt section may be formed into a boneless ham roll andsmoked. In preparing this portion for the smoking operation, the bonystructure consisting of the hip bone I6, the tail bone 23, and the rearend of the spine (Fig. 9) is extracted, and the rear end portion 29 ofthe tenderloin also removed, the latter for sale as a separate choicecut (Fig. 10)

Fig. '7 illustrates the butt section With the bony structure andtenderloin removed and with a heavy layer 31 of fat for the purpose ofprotecting the meat during the smoking process. In providing suchprotective covering, the back fat of the carcass is of suicientthickness to permit of a longitudinal division thereof so as to formboth the layer 32 of the fat 3I (Fig. 3) and the layer 31. Accordingly,We prefer to terminate the transverse cut 28 short of the rear side ofthe ham and then cut the flap 3I parallel with the skin 33 so as toleave a layer of fat approximately 1" thick on the skin. The remainderof the back fat is left adhering to the meat of the butt section 26.Obviously, however, other portions of the carcass may be availed of toprovide coverings of adequate thickness.

It will be seen that by our improved mode of Thus the proper operation,Waste is reduced to the bony structure consisting of the hip bone I6,tail piece 23, and the rear end of the spine. At the same time, it ispossible to provide hams of uniformly high quality but with no attendantloss on account of improper curing of the meat; and a substantialadvantage is gained from the effective utilization of a substantialportion of good quality meat formerly sacriced to form a butt end forthe ham to protect itY during the smoking process. By such utilizationof the meat to good advantage, the loss formerly charged to the centercut portions is eliminated, with the result that the price of the meatto the ultimate 'consumer may be reduced.

We claim as our invention: 1

1. In the art of meat packing, the method of preparing hams whichcomprises forming the ham With a broad ilat base disposed in a planepassing through the extreme upper end of the thigh bone substantiallyperpendicular thereto so as to exclude the hip bone, curing the ham thusformed, and smoking the ham with a protective covering of substantialthickness overlying said `base so as to prevent undue drying of themeat.

2. In the art of meat packing, the method of preparing hams whichcomprises forming the ham with a broad flat base disposed in a planesubstantially perpendicular to the axis of the thigh bone at the upperend thereof so as to exclude the hip bone, curing the ham thus formed,securing a fatty covering of substantial thickness over said flat base,and smoking the ham suspended from its shank end with said coveringexposed directly to the applied heat.

3. In the art of meat packing, the method of preparing hams whichcomprises forming the ham with a broad flat base disposed in atransverse plane passing through the upper end of the thigh bone,subjecting the ham thus formed to a curing operation including theintroduction of a curing solution around the thigh bone, and placing theham in upright position on said base -to drain such solution; coveringsaid base of the ham with a heavy protective covering including a layerof fat of substantial thickness; and finally smoking the ham Whilesuspended from its shank and With said protective covering exposeddirectly to heat applied from below the ham.

4. In the art of meat packing, the method of preparing hams for curingand smoking, which comprises severing the half carcass of a hogtransversely at longitudinally spaced points to form a sectionconsisting of a lower or ham portion containing the thigh bone, and anupper or butt portion containing the hip bone; cutting said sectiontransversely in a plane immediately below the position normally occupiedby the hip bone in the butt portion and disposed substantiallyperpendicular to the axis of the thighbone at the upper end of thelatter, thereby forming a separate ham portion having a broad flat basewith said end of the thigh bone exposed; and covering said base with aprotective covering of substantial thickness to prevent undue drying ofthe meat by the application of heat to the base during the smokingprocess.

HUGO FREDBERG. Y CARL FREDBERG.

